Pages

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Homemade Ding Dongs: Shorter Shelf Life

Unless you live in a vacuum, you must be aware that Hostess Brands announced Friday that it's liquidating the company. This marks the end of those lunchbox snacks--Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Ho Hos, Snow Balls.. and in terms of sandwiches, the ubiquitous Wonder Bread.

In
a statement, Hostess said its bakery operations suspended all plants and is laying off most of its 18, 500 workers to focus
on selling its assets. Among
those assets: the recipes for its well-known brands, especially the
spongy Twinkie, which holds a special place in America's culinary
history. Over the years, it has been vilified by nutritionists, but it
remains widely loved by snackers.

It even entered into U.S. legal
history as the so-called "Twinkie defense," used by lawyers for former
San Francisco city supervisor Dan White in his trial for the 1978 murder
of Mayor George Moscone and city supervisor Harvey Milk. The legal
team successfully argued that White's consumption of mass amounts of
junk food, including Twinkies, was a symptom of the depression that led
to his shooting of Moscone and Milk. White was found guilty of
manslaughter, a lesser charge.

CEO and chairman Gregory
F. Rayburn told CNBC that he was hopeful the company could sell its
brands. He told TODAY that the move was not a negotiating ploy. "It's
over. This is it," he said.
On
Nov. 12, Hostess permanently closed three plants because of the strike.
Two days later, the company announced that it would be forced to
liquidate if enough workers did not return to restore normal operations
by 5 p.m. ET Thursday. "We deeply regret the necessity of today's
decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an
extended nationwide strike," said Rayburn.
The BCTGM was not
immediately available to comment. But Reuters reported that Union
President Frank Hurt blamed the company, saying it was kowtowing to
Wall Street investors who have wanted to break up Hostess. Workers were still staffing picket lines early Friday.A quick search of eBay showed people offering boxes of Twinkies for a range of prices -- from $5.00 a box to as much as $500.

So because this is a Chocolate Blog, I thought I'd focus on Ding Dongs. Here are four Ding Dong Recipes you can make at home. The difference? Shelf Life. An average Hostess brand Ding Dong has a shelf life of 9 years. These Home Made treats? 3-4 days in the refrigerator.